Birthing The Fifth Dimension

Only months ago, nobody really believed that the value of the baht [a unit of money] could depreciate to 50 to one US dollar. At one point recently it fell to 56. Not only the baht but all the currencies of Southeast Asia have been adversely affected by the financial situation in the region. Here are some contemporary newspaper quotes:

The causes are manifold and difficult to define but the effects are evident. The old economic and political systems no longer work, they are collapsing around us.

People are being shaken awake. Sometimes it takes a kick in the pants to wake us up. The kick in the pants here has so far been the loss of jobs, salary cuts, closure of finance companies and less crowded shopping malls. Unlike in Indonesia where there has been rioting, Thai tolerance and adaptability have served us well. What happens here and in South-east Asia generally will be the model for a new way of life. Thai people have vast agricultural resources and a deeply ingrained sense of community spirit together with a healthy regard for the sovereignty of each person. Add to this a centuries-old tradition of accessing the inner wealth of the spirit and you have the elements necessary to generate a new way of being.

Looked at from a wider perspective, what we are experiencing are the birth pangs of the fifth dimensional consciousness. The three spacial dimensions of length, breadth and height together with the fourth dimension of time are familiar concepts. But what is the ‘fifth dimension’?

The fifth dimensional consciousness is a way of living in the world that perceives and understands the physical universe both within and beyond the limitations of linear time and is also fired by compassion and the sense of being one with all. While it accepts the right of each to determine his or her own destiny, it also sees how we are all interdependent in terms of natural resources and in terms of the deep empathic mind link between beings.

What we think and what we believe determine how we live and ultimately affects our environment. Each person sets his or her own energy resonator in motion whenever he or she thinks, speaks or acts. Groups working together magnify those energies to many times the sum of the individual contributors.

At present we are undergoing profound changes and each of us is trying to survive. The existing power groups are also trying to survive.

Looking at the not-too-distant past, Somdej Phra Phuttajan [A descriptive combination of title and name displaying vereration to the second highest rank of monks in the Thai Theravadan tradition] Arj Asokmahaten, who later became the acting Sangharaja, [the highest rank for a monk] was jailed from the April 20, 2503 [1959 in the Gregorian calendar] to August 30, 2509 [1965] for helping people to discover the truth within themselves. He sent monks all over the country and abroad to promote Vipassana meditation. That was one of the most subversive things he could do, because it enabled people to go within and find the deepest truth within themselves. When people can centre like this they are not easily manipulated by the powers that be. Their votes cannot be bought. Their hearts cannot be bought. They are not swayed by media manipulation or peer pressure because they have recourse to inner peace. A mind that is centred and peaceful has a spontaneous uprising of joy and compassion. Such people will not react to adversity with fear or panic. Inner wisdom is their guide. When many people countrywide started to practise in this way, it was seen to be a threat to the status quo. Somdej Phra Phuttajan was accused of being a communist and was sent to jail. When I met him years later, his radiance filled the Viharn of Wat Mahadhatu [the ceremonial hall of the temple Mahadhatu in Bangkok] The incredible power of the peace radiating out from the then Acting Sangharaja was palpable. The power of the truth cannot be stopped. And the power of the transformation that is arising within the hearts of the Thai people cannot be stopped.

When jobs in the factories disappear how do the young Thai people from the provinces react? Here is an observation from Canadian sociologist and long-time resident of Bangkok, Andre McNicoll on a recent visit to the northeast:

"The next day I set off to visit my friend’s family. They live in a tiny hamlet 25 kilometers from Khorat. It was fascinating to see all the nephews and nieces who had returned from lost jobs in factories now building simple shelters around the parents' home. The place was teeming with children and the sound of laughter. Everyone was also pitching in bringing in the rice harvest. Thailand's rural diaspora appears to have gone into reverse."

People are being laid off. Many who have been too busy to take any time out for themselves can think about what is really important in their lives. They do not have to force themselves to follow a pattern dictated by others. They have time to breathe.

Educationalists are seeing a difference in the way that would-be university students are applying for courses. Students are no longer applying for fashionable subjects such as mass communications or engineering. Instead they are applying to study biology and agriculture, subjects based on the real basic needs of the community – not the emphemeral creations of fashion.

When you know what your real needs are and you are in tune with your own balance, you will not act in a way that will harm yourself or others. Thailand is a Buddhist county and most people are familiar with the Five Precepts. The Five Precepts not only tell us what not to do. They also show us how to live harmoniously with others. They are built upon the universal principles of harmlessness and loving kindness.

When keeping the Five Precepts we not steal and we also give Dana. Not only do we not tell lies, but we also speak out in a way that is inspiring, supportive and helpful.

We do not simply avoid committing adultery, we show our love and caring through our most intimate relations with our partners. This enables us to grow together in the wondrous expression of reciprocal sharing in sexual communion. Through this deep sharing many energy blockages can be released, enabling us to develop emotionally and spiritually. It can only happen in a situation of mutual trust.

Not only do we not take drink and drugs that cloud the mind, but we live in a way that promotes our physical, mental, emotional and spiritual well being. In the same way as we avoid food that contain carcinogens and toxins, we also avoid mental input that can disturb the mind.

The mass media may be controlling how you think and feel, by simply filling your awareness space. How many people do you know who turn on the TV almost as soon as they arrive home? Their attention is continuously filled with broadcasted sights and sounds.

Generally, the mass media are controlled by those who have money (eg. big businesses) or power (eg. government agencies). It is in their interests to create desire for their products or services via the media.

Now with development of user-based communications technology, people have greater control over where they access information and are able to verify that information from many sources. Some examples of user-based communications systems are mobile phones, the Internet, and faxes. Central control limits opportunity: we can only receive what someone else has decided we should receive. When we use systems such as mobile phones or the Internet, we can bypass central control.

Even if controls are imposed, there are other ways to communicate and the Thai people with their long tradition of Bhavana or mental development are uniquely placed to make use of these. There are mind links between people and a group vision is emerging that is to be felt in the heart centres of the Earth first. Thailand is one of the heart centres. And here and simultaneously all over the world, individuals and groups, some religious, others environmental or concerned with healing in many forms, are pooling their mental and spiritual energy to promote peace on Earth.

Stated in Buddhist terms, they seek to bring the essence of the Lord Buddha alive in the hearts of all people. They wish to manifest the great qualities of the Lord Buddha, wisdom, purity and compassion in their daily lives. Stated in Christian terms, they wish to provide suitable conditions for the arising of the Christ consciousness in the hearts of all people.

Some scientists are beginning to realize that observation cannot be completely objective. The mind which observes has an effect on the object being observed and the quality of that mind colours the observation. In Vipassana meditation both the observer and the observed are seen in their ongoing constantly changing interrelationship. The practitioner observes the body and mind in the dynamic ever-changing vitality of present experience. He comes to see how experiences, sensations, feelings and thoughts, together with their reactions within the sense of self, arise and pass away. He sees how every fleeting moment of consciousness is dependent upon others and how all is interrelated and interdependent.

The doctrine of Paticcasamupada (Dependent Origination) details the process of the arising of each moment of consciousness dependent upon conditions. It also shows how the process can be cut so that freedom from ignorance can be attained. It is ignorance that causes unsatisfactoriness in its myriad forms to arise in our experience.

In the Avatamsaka Sutra, the image if Indra’s jewelled net is used to show "the infinite variety of interactions and intersections of all things. The net is woven of an infinite variety of brilliant gems, each with countless facets. Each gem reflects in itself every other gem in the net, and its image is reflected in each other gem." In each moment of consciousness all the other mind moments are reflected.

Within each moment of consciousness we affect the consciousness of others. In the same way that the resonance of a pure high note can set glasses singing, so our thoughts and actions set up waves of conditioned reactions within our environment. Each inner transformation affects the wholeness of being.

People who live in contact with Buddhism grow up with an understanding of the laws of cause and effect. A good action will eventually produce a beneficial result and vice versa.

It is a principle of physics that energy can neither be created nor destroyed. Energy can only be transformed from one form into another. Everything we think, everything we feel, everything we say and do constitutes a form of energy. "Each of us is a powerful energy emitter in every waking or sleeping moment". The way in which we emit that energy attracts people and experiences that are resonating on the same frequency. Like attracts like. When we are in a state of vibrant balance and vital peace, we will attract to ourselves more of the same.

Many groups are working together for personal transformation and world healing. Many of those groups synchronise world healing sessions to magnify the effect. This is not new. Since 1945 groups worldwide have synchronised their meditations with the exact time of the full moon. They use the "Great Invocation" that focuses on the reemergence of love, light and divine will on Earth. What is different now, is that the coordination network of groups has expanded tremendously in the speed of communication, the breadth of contact and the urgency of the task.

Through Internet links, fax links and satellite technology, healers in Australia coordinate with native Americans in Rochester New York, psychologists in Bali and monks in Bangkok. Whenever peace is threatened or there is a disaster, energy is sychronously directed to that place. Each positive thought resonates through the jewelled net of world consciousness.

Each time you listen with openness to those around you and you dare speak out about how you feel in the ‘wake up’ situation of financial instability you find yourself in, there is the potential for the beginning of a new ‘group’. Each action done to help or support others as well as yourself constitutes the first stirrings of a new way of life.

Those actions need not relate directly to improving the financial situation or creating employment. Each action which arises from an impulse of caring and openness will have a positive effect, eg. smiling at fellow travellers; letting another person who is obviously in a hurry go ahead of you in a queue; carrying something heavy for a person who needs help; spending time listening to your friends and neighbours or starting a car pool with other parents at your child’s school. The overall effect of the good intentions and simple caring actions can set a wave of positivity that can transform the country and set an example for the world.

When groups of like-minded people come together to meditate for improved conditions on the earth, the effect is magnified. How does it feel to be part of such a group? Here a member of a world healing group attempts to convey something of the vastness of the interaction being effected on a world scale.

"After the initial calming and alignment of attention within the group, we consciously connected with the centre of the Earth and the energy fields surrounding the Earth. I become simultaneously aware of the microcosm of personal being and the macrocosm of the interconnections within a universal oneness. I was observing the alignment of the planets of the solar system, the galaxy and even our universe from a place beyond yet within those..... yet I was also rooted in the body - and the whole permeated with love. That love was self arising from the little girl's heart within me, and within the hearts and awareness of all those who participated. It is our separation which defined and gave consciousness to the oneness. We sent the light of Loving Kindness (Metta) to areas currently under great stress. Together we focussed our awareness and directed loving kindness to all the sentient beings of the Earth."

Which newborn child does not feel love for his mother. And which mother would not willingly and joyfully undergo the labour of birth for a loved child? What we are experiencing here and now in South-east Asia are the birth pangs of an enhanced consciousness that is born from the love and wisdom of awakening humanity.

Only months ago, nobody really believed that the value of the baht [a unit of money] could depreciate to 50 to one US dollar. At one point recently it fell to 56. Not only the baht but all the currencies of Southeast Asia have been adversely affected by the financial situation in...